LATE PERIOD, 664-330 B.C.

Clepsydrae, or water clocks, operated on the principal of gravity. Water flowed through an opening at the bottom of the vessel at a measurable rate, thus time could be determined on the basis of the amount of water left in the vessel, the interior of which was delineated with set intervals (see R.E. Freed, op. cit.). Due to its small scale, this example was likely a votive rather than a functional clepsydra. R.S. Bianchi writes that "Votive clepsydrae of the type depicted here generally consist of a base fronted by a single or double flight of stairs. These stairs give the base the appearance of a dais, whose profile resembles the hieroglyph for 'truth,' suggesting that whatever is thus supported is established by a place of truth. Rising from the dais is a reservoir for water in the form of a tall, tapering rectangle. A baboon squats on a narrow pedestal pressed up against the reservoir...the conduit for water is incorporated onto the base on which the baboon squats....The example, one of the finest types, can be reasonably dated to the Late Period, when such apple green faience was in vogue" (F.D. Friedman, ed. op. cit., p. 232). William Kelly Simpson writes that the baboon, a representation of the god Thoth, was an apt guardian of the clepsydra since as god of writing and science he was responsible for the progression of the hours (op. cit., n.p.).